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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24218914">Metamorphosis</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chaotic_Adventure/pseuds/Chaotic_Adventure'>Chaotic_Adventure</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hermitcraft RPF, Minecraft (Video Game), Minecraft EVO</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(past and non-graphic), Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Hostage Situations, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Lots of that, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 17:15:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,488</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24218914</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chaotic_Adventure/pseuds/Chaotic_Adventure</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After Grian's escape to Hermitcraft, he thought he was safe—but the Watcher symbol is appearing again, and none of the hermits know what to do. Once Hermits start disappearing, Grian has to figure out how to stop the Watchers from destroying his world—even if it means sacrificing himself.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Charles | Grian &amp; Taurtis, Joe Hills/ZombieCleo, impulseSV/Tango Tek (Video Blogging RPF)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>86</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Secrets</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Updates weekly, every Sundays. Chapters will get longer as I write more. Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Safe. <em> Safe. </em>He was safe here, safe in his base, safe—</p><p>The bell was ringing, and it was a welcoming sound; it meant there was a message from Mumbo waiting for him. He opened the chest, laughed at Mumbo’s message—he took some cactus, <em> really? </em>—and broke the chest to stop the bell.</p><p>The bell didn’t stop, and by the time he heard the sound of a piston retracting, it was too late.</p><p> </p><p>***</p><p> </p><p>Grian had definitely had time to respawn, and even if he had ended up at spawn island, he should’ve been back in a few minutes, tops. Iskall had been waiting for ten, and there was still no sign of him.</p><p>He decided to check spawn. Worst case scenario, they had just missed each other. Best case, Grian would be there with a broken nether portal and a disconnected communicator.</p><p>As it turned out, Grian <em> was </em>there, sitting in a small alcove with his head in his hands. He was shaking, Iskall realized. Maybe crying.</p><p>Iskall heard a shuddering sob. <em> Definitely crying. </em></p><p>“Grian?”</p><p>Grian flinched away, pressing himself against the wall. “No, no, no no no… No, Taurtis, <em> no </em>—”</p><p>“Grian, it’s me, Iskall.” Iskall tentatively reached out a hand, but withdrew it when Grian flinched again and curled further into himself. “It’s okay, Grian. It’s alright. Just… just come back when you’re ready, okay?”</p><p>Grian nodded and squeezed his eyes closed, rocking back and forth in his alcove. He just needed to get the sound of the explosions out of his head—</p><p>“Taurtis,” he whimpered, squeezing his hands so hard they turned red. “Taurtis…”</p><p>Iskall fidgeted nervously. “Look, I have no idea who that is, but—”</p><p>“My best friend,” Grian murmured. When he finally looked up, his eyes were bloodshot. “I was somewhere else before I came here. I… I had another world.”</p><p><em> Another world? </em>Now, Iskall was curious. “What other world?”</p><p>“It was called Evo,” Grian whispered, a tear slipping down his cheek. “Evolution. It was… the point of it was that we started in Beta, and the world was pushed forward in time every once in a while.”</p><p>“That sounds omega cool!” Iskall smiled, then realized what Grian had said and sobered again. “Wait. Was?”</p><p>Grian sighed. “Yeah. It was destroyed—blown up by the Watchers, the self-proclaimed gods.” He scrubbed at his eyes angrily, pulling himself to his feet to pace across the small island. “Everyone died.”</p><p>“Couldn’t they respawn?”</p><p>“No, Iskall. Permanently. They all—they’re all gone, for good. I guess your explosion set something off, or something, I don’t usually—” Grian sniffled and came to a stop, bracing his arm against his eyes. “I’m not usually like this. I’m sorry.”</p><p>Iskall waved his hands frantically. “No, no, it’s okay! I had no idea it would scare you like that! You can even have the tag back, if you would like.” Iskall had picked up all of Grian’s stuff, including the tag, after he died in the explosion.</p><p>Grian chuckled lightly. “It pains me to say it, but you won it fair and square. You can keep it.”</p><p>“Awesome, dude!” Iskall patted Grian on the back, then turned to the nether portal. “I trust you can make it home alright?”</p><p>“Yeah, Iskall. Thanks.”</p><p>“No problem!” Iskall disappeared through the portal in a shower of sparks.</p><p>Grian looked into the ocean. The sealife in the Hermitcraft world was always reassuring to see, reminding him he wasn’t in Evo, even though it also sometimes made him sad. His elytra had the same effect—relief and lingering grief. The only thing that really hurt was his <em> real </em>wings.</p><p>He stepped into the portal and let the nether ceiling swallow him in darkness.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Comments make my day!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Symbol</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The symbol starts to appear. Grian begins to panic.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>
    <em>JoeHillsTSD:</em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span> Hey guys, you may want to come to mooshroom island</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>JoeHillsTSD:</em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span> I don’t know how to describe this</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>JoeHillsTSD:</em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span> but it’s important</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>Tango: </em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span>You okay</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>JoeHillsTSD:</em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span> yeah just</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>JoeHillsTSD:</em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span> you have to see this</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>By the time Grian arrived at the mooshroom island, everyone else was already there, clustered around a small cliffside.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, G-man,” Doc said, waving him over. “What do you think about this?” He moved out of the way, and the instant Grian saw the bedrock pattern, he flinched away so quickly he slammed into Scar behind him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Scar steadied Grian’s shoulders, asking, “are you okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>No. No, no no no—</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>TThere was a pattern inscribed in the cliffside with bedrock. It had two squares in opposite corners, and two L-shapes in the others. Grian recognized it instantly. </span>
  <em>
    <span>The Watcher symbol.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Scar was still asking if he was okay, and he finally managed to nod, just saying he was tired and extremely confused by the mysterious appearance of bedrock in the shopping district.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He barely made it back to his base before he started crying.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How did they </span>
  <em>
    <span>find </span>
  </em>
  <span>us? How did they—I thought they couldn’t get here! I thought they couldn’t find me, I thought—” Grian collapsed on his bed, sobbing. It was all over, and soon enough, everything would end. Just like Evo.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Three weeks later, another Watcher symbol appeared, this time right next to Grian’s partially-built castle. Grian wasn’t even the first to notice it—it was Impulse, who had flown over to lend Grian some dark prismarine. When he told the other hermits, nearly everyone came to see it—everyone except for Grian.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Grian had actually built a safe room in his castle, because his hobbit-hole didn’t feel safe anymore, but now, he was in Scar’s snail, hiding from the Watchers in a place they’d never know to find him. While the others asked after him, he paced inside the snail’s shell, trying to figure out how to stop this. The problem was that the Watchers couldn’t be stopped. They would go as far as they needed to get what they were after.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Grian was starting to suspect they were after </span>
  <em>
    <span>him.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>***</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When the third symbol appeared, sunk into the pond by Scar’s snail, Grian began to panic. The Watchers were definitely following him, weeding him out of his safe places one by one. This symbol was different, though; it had a portal in the center that looked like a Nether portal, but more red than purple. Tango looked at it and confirmed it didn’t lead to his homeland, although he couldn’t figure out where it went.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Grian knew, though, and he had to speak up before any of the others got hurt.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Guys,” he said hesitantly. All the others turned to look at him, and he swallowed nervously. If they didn’t believe him…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But he didn’t have a choice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know where the portal goes,” he murmured, twisting his hands together. “And… I know what the symbol is.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I knew it!” Scar shouted, while the others simply stared at him, dumbfounded. “I knew you were frightened by it when we found the first one! So, what is it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s…” Grian’s knees shook, and he sat down in an effort to not fall. “It’s, well, it’s a Watcher portal, and regular people can’t go through it. Only the Watchers can.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Xisuma frowned. “Watchers?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This was it. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Here goes nothing… </span>
  </em>
  <span>“Yeah, the Watchers. That’s their symbol. They… they kind of see themselves as gods.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gods?” Xisuma stood and began to pace, the newest reiteration of the symbol a bleak backdrop.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. They, uh—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A hissing sound, and a </span>
  <em>
    <span>BOOM—</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>No, no no no—</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Grian was already thinking about Evo, and the sound of a creeper exploding next to him sent him into a panic attack.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He froze. He could hear, but wasn’t processing—too many voices, too much sound. Someone grabbed his arm, and he let the touch ground him until he felt more stable.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “The explosion, I just—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay,” someone said. Iskall. “I get it. Just breathe, okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” Grian whispered. “Just a creeper, not… not them, not them again, it’s okay…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait,” Xisuma said. “Who’s ‘them’?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The Watchers,” Grian said shakily. He felt calm enough to talk about it now, even though he was still scared. “I… before I joined Hermitcraft, I was part of another world, called Evolution. The Watchers destroyed it, killing everyone—all my friends—” Grian sniffled trying to hold back tears. “All of them are dead, now, permanently.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Xisuma, still pacing, said, “how can we stop them?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We can’t.” Grian put his head in his hands. “It’s not possible. I—they can’t even be killed by one of their own.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>All of the hermits seemed seemed to be thinking the same thing:</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What are we supposed to do now?</span>
  </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Leave a comment if you enjoyed! See you next week!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The First Loss</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Someone's missing. Grian can't fix things on his own, and he knows it. But what is he supposed to do?</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>They didn’t notice until it was almost too late.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <b>
    <em>JoeHillsTSD: </em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span>has anyone seen Impulse?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <b>
    <em>Tango:</em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span> no, I was about to ask</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <b>
    <em>MumboJumbo: </em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span>Not for a couple weeks, why?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <b>
    <em>JoeHillsTSD: </em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span>just haven’t seen him for a while, got worried</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <b>
    <em>Tango: </em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span>I’m looking</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <b>
    <em>JoeHillsTSD: </em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span>good luck</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>***</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Of course, Grian helped them search for Impulse, even though he was scared. He </span>
  <em>
    <span>had </span>
  </em>
  <span>to. All of this was his fault, one way or another, and if anyone permanently died because of him—</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn’t want to think about that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They didn’t find Impulse that day, nor the next, nor any of the days that week. They didn’t even find a clue. It was as if Impulse had just… disappeared.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Meanwhile, Grian was panicking. He spent most of his time either pacing back and forth across his base or frantically building, trying to calm himself down. Neither worked. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He knew the confrontation would happen sooner or later; he just had to wait.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>***</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It was sooner, and it started with the mark.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At the appearance of the third symbol in Scar’s pond, the Watcher’s mark had burned itself into Grian’s neck once again, just below his left ear. It had disappeared when he jumped to Hermitcraft, and he thought it would never come back again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The instant Doc noticed, he grabbed Grian, calling for backup. “He’s possessed! Someone help me!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, I’m not,” Grian protested, trying to wriggle free. “Let me go!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What’s going on?” Xisuma had made his way over, and just in time, because Doc had a sword—iron—to Grian’s neck.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Grian’s breath shallowed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Doc wasn’t listening. “He’s possessed, Sizuma! Do you see the mark on his neck? It matches that Watcher symbol!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes,” Xisuma said, “but that doesn’t mean he’s possessed. Set him down, would you? He looks terrified.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Grian </span>
  <em>
    <span>was </span>
  </em>
  <span>terrified. As soon as Doc let go, he fell to his knees, eyes squeezed closed. This, at least, he could control. He’d taken the time in Evo to learn to control these flashbacks along with Taurtis, to turn them into nothing more than a reflection in a pool of water.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he opened his eyes again, Xisuma was in front of him, offering a hand. Grian took it and let Xisuma pull him to his feet. Doc was standing across the room looking a bit peeved, but he looked like that most of the time anyway.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Grian…” Xisuma trailed off and looked away. “Why is the mark on your neck? And why does it look like it was… branded?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Grian touched the mark. “It looks branded because it </span>
  <em>
    <span>was. </span>
  </em>
  <span>The first time I world-hopped—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’ve world-hopped more than </span>
  <em>
    <span>once?” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Xisuma said, stunned.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah. I’ll explain that later. I…” Grian sighed. “The first time, this mark was put on me. I didn’t know what it was back then—I just thought it was something everyone got after they hopped. But then, it started showing up in the world. And then came the towers, the bedrock embedded into cliffs, and…” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Grian fell silent.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And what?” Now, Doc seemed interested, too. “What happened?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Grian chewed on his lip. He didn’t want to remember this, he didn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>want </span>
  </em>
  <span>to, but he had to. “Then, the Watchers took me. And then they destroyed the world.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Destroyed—”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yep.” Grian shrugged, trying to ward away tears. “All gone. Everyone, gone. And…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Doc noticed Grian’s last words and jumped on them. “And?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Grian shivered. “It was my fault.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>***</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Impulse found himself in a cage made of strengthened glass, keeping him from reaching past the walls. It wouldn’t have done him any good if he could, anyway—he didn’t have magic like Scar, or fire like Tango.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Tango…</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He missed Tango more than he’d like to admit. Tango was his best friend. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Just </span>
  </em>
  <span>his best friend.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe that was excuse enough for the ache in his chest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then, finally, Impulse began to take inventory. He didn’t have much on him—a few bits of redstone dust, three sea pickles, a single piece of cactus, and two stacks of white concrete powder. Whoever kidnapped him had taken all his tools, including his armor and elytra. He was helpless.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hopefully, someone would feed him. He didn’t have his golden carrots, either.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hello?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His call was seemingly silenced the instant it came out of his mouth—even though he was yelling, his voice was barely more than a whisper. Soundproofing, maybe? No—if that were the case, he would be able to hear himself, though not others. Void magic, then.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Impulse’s heart sank. He knew, with absolute certainty, that he didn’t stand a chance against the Voidkind.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Somewhere, a door opened, flooding the room with light. Impulse called out instinctively, but like before, it seemed like his voice was sucked away before it even left his mouth.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hello, Impulse,” a voice said. “Glad to see you’re awake.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Impulse kept his mouth shut this time. There was no point in wasting his breath on words no one would hear.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Smart,” the voice said. “You catch on quickly. I wonder how quickly the others will realize you’re gone. Haven’t noticed yet…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Impulse sucked in a breath. How long had he been gone for? Surely, someone would’ve noticed. Tango…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, not him. The demon boy hasn’t realized, though he is getting worried.” The owner of the voice finally stepped into view, revealing an impossibly tall figure wearing a deep purple cloak and a mask covering their face. “Tango, what an interesting name… it takes two to tango, doesn’t it? Isn’t that the saying?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Impulse found himself nodding before he had processed what he had heard. Then, he paused. </span>
  <em>
    <span>It takes two to Tango?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, child,” the figure said, and that’s when Impulse finally realized that they were reading his mind. “Two… I need another of you. Just one won’t be enough to bring him here. Thank you, child.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With that, the figure left, taking the light with them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Impulse sighed without a sound and leaned back in his cage. No one had realized he was missing, but Tango was worrying, which he didn’t like. He didn’t want Tango to worry about him. He was fine—hadn’t been hurt yet, at least, and he’d been in worse scrapes than this one.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Even so, he couldn’t help but worry. Who was the figure? Who did they want to bring there? And what did they mean when they said they needed another of them?</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'll see you guys next week! I apologize for the short chapter this week. School is finally over, so I'll be posting much longer chapters in the future, or two at a time if they're short. Thanks for your patience!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Comments make my day! See you next week!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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